Notebook: New Arrival Takes Vsga Senior Crown

Notebook

June 02, 1998|By ED RICHARDS Daily Press

Harry Cain is no longer one of the best-kept golf secrets in Williamsburg. He can play.

Cain, who moved to Two Rivers about 18 months ago from Maryland, was virtually unnoticed until he captured the VSGA State Senior Stroke Play Championship at the par-71 Augustine Golf Club in Stafford May 19-20.

Cain, 60, won the tournament in a playoff against Sandy Knapp of Midlothian after both finished regulation play with 36-hole totals of 147.

Cain, who shot rounds of 75-72, claimed the title by sinking a 5-footer for par on the first playoff hole. Knapp had a 6-footer for par but missed.

The victory was Cain's first ``major'' crown since the Illinois State Seniors Open in 1989. Earlier in his career, he had won titles in the Maryland State Amateur and Washington, D.C., Amateur.

The insurance executive felt good about his game going into the recent VSGA event.

``For the first time in 20 years, I've been able to play more golf,'' he said.

Cain competed in last year's Senior Stroke Play Championship at Two Rivers, but finished 11 strokes off the pace.

He didn't feel he was at his best on the Augustine course.

``I only played so-so from tee to green, but managed to get out of the heavy grass around the greens and make a whole bunch of putts from 4 and 5 feet,'' he said.

His final-round 72 proved the best score of the day. Cain highlighted it with a 7-iron tee shot that wound up 8 inches from the hole on the 165-yard par-3 12th hole. He tapped that in for birdie.

Third place went to Jim Kite of Wolftown (73-75).

WCC GOLF. Jeff Whitmire and John Nezlek made only three bogeys in 54 holes while winning the Williamsburg Country Club Invitational with an 8-under-par 208 total May 23-25.

``We played smart, conservative golf. That was the key,'' said Whitmire, who capped a final-round of 70 in better-ball with four birdies on his own ball.

That gave the Williamsburg CC duo a one-stroke victory over Mike Smith and T.J. McKinney of Newport News and Dutch Minick and Dave Harris of the WCC.

Whitmire, the greens superintendent at the WCC, and Nezlek, a William and Mary psychology professor, shot earlier rounds of 68 in captain's choice and 70 in alternate-shot.

They went into the final round tied with McKinney and Smith (70-68). The turning point came at the par-3 third hole, which McKinney and Smith double-bogeyed.

That gave Whitmire and Nezlek a one-stroke lead, which they never lost against their playing partners.

Minick and Harris made a late charge with a 68 in the better-ball, but fell one stroke short after shooting 70 in captain's choice and 71 in alternate-shot.

YOUTH SOCCER. The U-16 Blast of the Williamsburg Soccer Club rolled to three shutouts but lost 2-1 to the Richmond Strikers in the title game of the Wrangler/McDonald's Youth Soccer Classic in Greensboro, N.C., Memorial Day weekend.

Brannon Thomas scored to give the Blast a 1-0 lead 10 minutes into the game against the Strikers, but the Richmond team answered with two goals for a 2-1 halftime lead.